Maud Mathis and Oriol Cardona compete as candidates for the European Championships in Running and Mountain Running

The European Championships for Running and Mountain Running already has the final engravings to celebrate its first edition, which will take place in El Paso (La Palma) from 1 to 3 July. This test is the latest in the European Association of Athletics Federations calendar and combines the disciplines of mountain running and running. At the same time, the Reventón Fred.Olsen Express races are held, which in this edition celebrates its tenth anniversary.

A total of 24 teams will compete in an event that brings together nearly 300 European athletes. Spain is the host team and one of the candidates to top the final medal list, as are Great Britain, France and Italy, which are superpowers in most mountain sports.

Spain will participate with 32 athletes, among them The absolute champions of Spain 2022, Julia Font (running), Alejandro Garcia (mountain racing), Onditz Iturbe and Mikel Corbera (vertical climbing). The aforementioned Onditz Iturbe and Gisela Carrión will double test, competing in Classic Uphill on Friday and Classic Up & Down on Sunday. Oriol Cardona, Zed Ait Malik, Daniel Osans, Borja Fernandez, Ana Comet, Nuria Gil or Monica Vives are some of the outstanding athletes that Spain presents at this tournament.

The entry list for this European Off-Road Athletics Championships also includes some well-known names who have won the European Hill Racing Championships in the past, such as three-time Swiss champion Maud Mathis, who entered both classic tough races. As in Up & Down.

If Mattis wins in one of these two disciplines, she will be the first female athlete to win four consecutive titles in running. The Swiss is probably the best runner in the sky right now, as well as the winner of events like the Sierre Zinal and the Pikes Peak Marathon (breaking records in both) or the Golden Trail World Series.

Matisse looks set to resume her rivalry with Austrian four-time winner Andrea Mayer (2005, 2014, 2015 and 2016), who had to settle for a silver medal behind Mattis in the grueling race at the last edition of the championship. Mountain Racing Europeans 2019.

Other names on the entry list include Britain’s Kate Avery, a multiple European cross-country medalist, and Germany’s Dominica Mayer, who helped Germany win the team title at the 10,000m European Cup in Passy in May. It also highlights the name of Holly Page, the best British athlete of recent years and winner of prestigious events such as The Rut (USA), Buff Epic Trail (Spain) or Monte Rosa Skymarathon (Italy). He has already been an international on several occasions with the UK (he was at the 2018 Penyagolosa World Cup when he was nine). Another runner to consider is France’s Christel Diwall, the world champion in the vertical kilometer and a six-time French champion in the same fashion. During the years 2014 – 2018 he held the KV world record. She is one of the best climbers of the last decade and one of the favorites to win the Up & Down and Classic Hill modes. Kristel’s teammate is Audrey Tanguy, a professional HUKA International Team runner and one of the best long-distance players at the moment. TDS (UTMB) winner in 2018 and 2019. We’ll also have to consider 2016 Olympics Anna Hanner in the women’s trail race.

Britain’s Jacob Adkin will defend his title in the men’s climbing event. He takes on a traditionally strong Italian team including Xavier Chevrier, who won individual bronze in 2019. Martin Dematteis will also compete, but 2016 European Hillclimb champion will run into the opening stage of the track race, which will be a contention of 47.4km.